A police officer was shot dead in Craigavon, in Northern Ireland's County Armagh, the evening of March 9 — reportedly by a faction of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) called the Continuity IRA (CIRA). The killing came just two days after two British soldiers were killed, reportedly by another faction called the Real IRA (RIRA), at a military base in Antrim, about 20 miles away. The IRA factions' stated aim is to break the 1998 Good Friday Accords, which ended 30 years of fighting, in order to return Northern Ireland to Irish rule or at least break it free from the British crown. (click image to enlarge) Militant activity in Northern Ireland has increased greatly in 2009; nine incidents have been reported so far this year, involving pipe bombs, shootings, a major bank robbery and even a vehicle loaded with 300 pounds of explosives allegedly meant to target a military base. By comparison, there were 10 reported incidents in all of 2008. Though the IRA has fractured and changed over the years, its militant factions are proving their ability to cause havoc in Northern Ireland as the global economic crisis stirs discontent among the masses. The IRA was known worldwide as an organization filled with expert bombmakers. It waged its deadliest militant campaign in Northern Ireland and abroad from the 1960s through the 1990s and trained militants in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, southern Yemen, the Soviet Union and Libya. However, it has fractured several times and is now broken up into four main groups: the Official IRA, Continuity IRA, Real IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). The first split was in 1969, when the now-defunct Provisional IRA (PIRA) split from the Official IRA (which developed a political wing, Sinn Fein) in a disagreement over the use of militant tactics, with the Provisional IRA favoring militancy. The Official IRA and Sinn Fein began to work more under the banner of Marxism at that point, rallying the workers and trade unions — the bulk of the IRA's support — and gaining assistance from the Soviet Union. Then, in 1986, the CIRA split from the PIRA. The RIRA emerged in 1997, and in 1998 carried out the Omagh bombing that killed 29 people — the deadliest and most indiscriminate single attack carried out by Irish dissidents during their late 20th century campaign. The Omagh bombing led to a drop in popular support for the militant IRA factions and paved the way for political reconciliation, which led to the Good Friday Accords. The fourth IRA element, the INLA, has used connections to the Irish mafia in the United States and United Kingdom to raise money for the other groups through the sale of drugs. It is also involved in laundering financial support coming from the United States and in the gray arms market, where it smuggles weapons from the United States to Ireland to outfit the RIRA and the CIRA. The INLA is not involved in militant activities, but assists the militant groups by financing them and backing them. The composition, training and capacity of today's IRA factions have declined since before the accords. Since the IRA's heyday, the United States has restricted flows of money to Irish dissidents by adding the groups to the State Department and Treasury Department terrorism lists. The groups' prized expert bomb makers either have retired or have been killed or arrested, so the groups' capabilities and prestige have declined. Today's dissidents are mostly from a newer generation and are not as well-trained and outfitted as their predecessors. Furthermore, Northern Ireland's population and politicians have reconciled, and the political deals that led to a power-sharing agreement between Unionists and Republicans enjoys very high approval ratings. There is little appetite to return to the violence of past years. But other forces are supporting the fringe population that is carrying out these attacks. The financial crisis that has swept across Europe and endangered Ireland's and the United Kingdom's economy is leaving many people unemployed and dissatisfied. The situation has raised enough concern that, on March 6, Chief Constable of Northern Ireland Hugh Orde requested assistance from the undercover Special Reconnaissance Regiment unit of the British special forces (which have a history of tracking and killing Irish dissidents going back to the 1980s) due to the increase in attacks — a move that Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said led to the March 9 killing of the police officer in Craigavon. According to a STRATFOR source, members of an IRA faction (it is not clear whether it was the RIRA or the CIRA) took part in a "tiger kidnapping" — an activity IRA factions have been known to engage in — Feb. 27 in Dublin. In tiger kidnappings, perpetrators kidnap a company employee (or an employee's family members) and force the employee to steal money from the company and hand it over. In the Feb. 27 tiger kidnapping, one of Ireland's largest, the perpetrators kidnapped a Bank of Ireland employee's girlfriend, her mother, and a 7-year-old child. The kidnappers got away with 7 million euro (nearly $9 million) — which can go a long way in outfitting a militant group and convincing others to join it, especially in times of economic hardship. While militant activity is increasing in Northern Ireland and being supported by factors such as the financial crisis, today's militancy is not like that seen 20 to 30 years ago. Nevertheless, the situation warrants careful monitoring to see if it spreads to Great Britain, increases in intensity or provokes a Protestant response.